MANCHESTER, N.H. – Head Coach Joe Adam of the Saint Anselm College football team and senior Jenoyce Laniyan (Bedford, N.H.) of the Hawks women's basketball team were honored with Social Justice Awards at the 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Dinner last week.

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Sponsored by the Center for Intercultural Learning and Inclusion, Campus Ministry, and the Multicultural Student Coalition, Saint Anselm hosted a virtual dinner this year via Zoom last week. Each year, the award is bestowed on a student and a staff member who inspires others to lead with compassion and courage and reflects Dr. King's overarching message of eliminating discrimination, oppression, and injustice. This year, the awards committee chose to honor two students and two staff members.

Laniyan was presented the award by Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Colleen Moriarty, who described her as a student-athlete who has "demonstrated tremendous passion and courage in promoting social justice… as an outstanding leader in the classroom, on the [basketball] court, and in the many clubs and organizations she's involved in."

On the court in the 2019-20 season, Laniyan appeared in a career-high 28 games in 2019-20 and has played in 61 career games on the Hilltop. She helped Saint Anselm to the 2019 NCAA Division II East Region Championship and the 2020 Northeast-10 Conference championship contest. Academically, she has earned spots on the NE10 Commissioner's Honor Roll as a freshman and junior.

Adam was cited by Wayne Currie, the director of the Center for Intercultural Learning and Inclusion, as someone whose relationships with student-athletes "have bolstered the retention of under-represented students on the Hilltop." He also noted Adam and his team's commitment to "stand[ing] against all oppression and discrimination."

In his sixth season at Saint Anselm, Adam has recruited student-athletes from across the country who excel socially, academically, and athletically on the Hilltop. With over 30 incoming students from more than 12 states signed on to the Saint Anselm Class of 2025, he looks to build upon a 2019 season that saw a record 12 student-athletes earn NE10 All-Conference honors.